‘Avengers 2′: Why Ms. Marvel May Be Introduced & Actresses Rumored to Play Her

The epic Marvel Movie rumor saga continues today, but instead of new speculation on Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, or even James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, we’re jumping ahead all the way to The Avengers 2, for new discussion about a Marvel superhero who has long been rumored to be a prime candidate for the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Ms. Marvel.

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Who Is Ms. Marvel?

If you’re not all that familiar with the character, in the comics Ms. Marvel (a.k.a. Major Carol Danvers) started as an Air Force officer unknowingly working with alien superhero Captain Marvel. Later, as the result of an explosion involving alien technology, Danvers was gifted with powers including super strength, flight and enhanced agility and stamina. During the character’s evolution through the ’80s and ’90s, she was also endowed with the cosmic powers of energy absorption and energy projection in the form of “photonic blasts.” After fading into obscurity for a time, Ms. Marvel returned as a mainstream character in her own comic book series, and became a major character in the new incarnation of The Avengers in the 2000s.

The Daily Mailreports that Looperstar Emily Blunt and Ruth Wilson, star of BBC’s hit series Luther, are both being eyed by Marvel for the role of Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel in The Avengers 2. Of course, since it is a British tabloid site proclaiming this, we’ve taken a hearty dose of salt along with the rumor – but it’s not necessarily one we can (or even want to) automatically shoot down, for several reasons.

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Marvel Cosmic

If you haven’t been reading up on “Phase 2″ of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), you might not be aware of where things are headed next. Aside from the expanding the world of superheroes on Earth (in films like Iron Man 3or Captain America 2), the MCU is going to blast off into the cosmic realms of space – in films like Thor 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy – ostensibly setting the stage for Avengers post-credits villain Thanos to become a major antagonist.

Ms. Marvel is one of the main “cosmic powered” heroes in the Marvel Universe, so it makes a lot of sense for the character to appear in the Phase 2 story arc – even if her origin comes as a sort of epilogue to Avengers 2, and helps kick off “Phase 3″ of the MCU. Given the growing evidence that Thor 2 will see Odin’s vault being breached – spewing iconic sources of cosmic power out into the MCU – an origin story for Ms. Marvel (revised from the Kree/Skrull alien origin in the comics) is certainly a possibility.

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New Roster

On the business side of things, Avengers 2 will see at least Robert Downey Jr. coming to the end of his contractual obligations with Marvel (not to mention possible end to his patience with fanboy mania) – and after The Avengers 3, contracts for the rest of the principal cast start to run out as well. This would presumably open the door for new characters (and subsequently new actors) to take the reigns of the MCU thereafter.

We already speculate that Captain America: The Winter Soldier will kick-off a storyline in which Winter Soldier – a.k.a Bucky (Sebastian Stan) from The First Avenger – eventually takes over the mantle of Captain America from Steve Rogers (Chris Evans); in the mid-2000s comics, Ms. Marvel climbed into the limelight alongside Bucky’s Captain America, so a similar transition in the MCU is not at all out of the question.

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Star Power

While I personally think Ruth Wilson would be a smart pick for the role of Ms. Marvel (her work on Luther was pretty impressive), we know that Marvel has been trying to work with Emily Blunt for some time; in fact, she was originally up to play Black Widow before scheduling conflicts killed the deal and Scarlett Johansson walked away with the role. Blunt told us personally that she still wants to work with Marvel, so this Ms. Marvel rumor about her isn’t so out-of-left-field. Given her increased fame, Blunt would also be the type of recognizable (but still affordable) name that Marvel wants to have on a marquee; though, a lot of fans have always held out hope that she will be handed the role of The Wasp. We’ll see.

Previous rumors have stated actresses like Chuckstar Yvonne Strahovski being up for the role of Ms. Marvel, but we’re perfectly happy with the two young ladies (Wilson, Blunt) who are said to be in the running at this point. How about you? Do you have a favorite between the two, or were you hoping for somebody different?

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Iron Man 3 releases May 3, 2013, Thor: The Dark World on November 8, 2013, Captain America: The Winter Soldier on April 4, 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1, 2014 and The Avengers 2 on May 1, 2015.